This is the biggest news story in America(which, is kind of sad) and they should secretly be rather happy. I know the charter of Sesame is much different than the Muppet Show brand, but still. I guess their main worry is the polarization going on, that it's being construed that being a Sesame fan=Obama supporter. And of course they want to stay out of politics. Still, you can't buy this sort of supernova mega viral phenomenon.

You must be cherry-picking rarities because it is not standard practice with.Hannity, OReilly or many others.

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I watch all three networks (FOX, CNN and MSNBC) often and I haven't found it to be a rarity. Yes there is interrupting that goes on and the host tends to "win" but it's not that the guests never get to respond and make their point. But of all the networks, the show I think is the most fair is CNN's Fareed Zakaria. So I have no bias either way, lol.

If any muppety troupe of characters should be attacked for a liberal agenda it should be the Fraggles. The show exposes the interdependence of everything and that's something a lot of conservatives don't want their kids to know - that everyone matters! Just because something doesn't directly impact your life doesn't mean it doesn't factor into it somehow. I think Fraggle Rock should be required viewing. I think it too should be on PBS instead of pay cable.

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That series attacked Televangelists. No one said a word. We seem to forget that in the 80's, these right wing based scam churches were everywhere, telling people what to be afraid of, who to vote for, and then asking them for money and embezzling it. The Bakers and Stewart were both caught in different scandals. And yet, people forget what complete Flim flam artists these guys were. FR was mocking, in a sense, the fact that these guys were brainwashing people and making them look like idiots. That's what Convincin' John is all about.

Convincin' John would be a perfect parody of the Fox Opinion channel nowadays.

This is the biggest news story in America(which, is kind of sad) and they should secretly be rather happy. I know the charter of Sesame is much different than the Muppet Show brand, but still. I guess their main worry is the polarization going on, that it's being construed that being a Sesame fan=Obama supporter. And of course they want to stay out of politics. Still, you can't buy this sort of supernova mega viral phenomenon.

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On the one hand, I'd almost be proud of Sesame Workshop for this, but on the other hand, they're standing up to someone defending them. It almost seems like SW is still gun-shy from the Fox News reference and doesn't want to be labeled the evil socialist brainwashing institution by choosing the side that's actually on their side. I'm not saying the President wasn't in the wrong... it was one of the only sound bite gaffes they were able to call Romney out on, but they handled it the wrong way.

It seems the point they were trying to make is that cutting an insanely small part of government spending, all while leaving the most generous tax cuts, perhaps in history, to the gluttonous CEO's that don't really use it to create jobs, is no way to balance the budget. Not to mention the fact that cutting government spending in certain places actually creates job losses. if SW has to make another round of budget cuts because of this, they'd have to let people off, adding to the unemployment rate.

On the one hand, I'd almost be proud of Sesame Workshop for this, but on the other hand, they're standing up to someone defending them.

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I am proud of Sesame Workshop. The Democrats aren't actually defending them; they're just looking out for their interests and saying what they think their voters want. That's what the Republicans are doing too. I'm sure it's tempting for Sesame Workshop to take a side to protect itself, but in the end you really can't trust these parties.

Sure, but the Democrats will keep PBS funded. The Reps take it as a petty partisan jab, all the while covering their butts for the corporate welfare that could fund PBS several hundred times over. Like the cartoon Beaker posted, PBS gets 6 hours of wartime in funding. The right's candidate keeps talking about how we need even more military spending, even though military spending with massive tax cuts and subsidiaries to companies that can handle themselves was the reason we're in such a huge mess. They love to blame the banks (they held a key role, but not THE key role), but our devalued currency played a slightly larger role. The same people who caused the debt are now complaining about it, and how it's "doubled" (i.e. we not good so much with teh maths), all while not wanting to change their own actions the last time.

So I get it's a "say what you will to get elected," thing... Mitt's certainly doing his fair share of that with his non-ideas to balance the budget without doing anything... but to say "they're the same" is a complete oversimplification and Flanderization. Both parties have individual short comings. And as far as I go, the right manages to be on top with the hateful justifications they give to keep big business reliant on government hand outs instead of using their own profits to hire workers, expand, and innovate. And even with that large chunk of money, those companies refuse to do anything with it.

So in reality, the true villains are these spoiled, entitled kids who grew up getting everything handed to them, only for them to toss it aside, who grew up to run companies on the same principle. Meanwhile, we have to get rid of money where we desperately need it, like NASA, and state governments so they can keep fire houses open.

And if PBS was more conservative leaning it would be the Democrats threatening to pull the plug. There is no loyalty here on either side. It's party interests and frankly, it's dirty money. It's tragic that PBS even needs gov't support.

And if PBS was more conservative leaning it would be the Democrats threatening to pull the plug. There is no loyalty here on either side. It's party interests and frankly, it's dirty money. It's tragic that PBS even needs gov't support.

And if PBS was more conservative leaning it would be the Democrats threatening to pull the plug. There is no loyalty here on either side. It's party interests and frankly, it's dirty money. It's tragic that PBS even needs gov't support.

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They tried... and no one watched. Trust me. Besides, Dems wouldn't pull the plug no matter what. It goes against their "wasteful spending" stereotype.

Not sure if this is the best place to say this, but I find it ridiculous how on facebook EVERY post on the Sesame Street page has comments about this incident (as well as the removal of Elmo's World), even in posts that have nothing to do with the issue (though the Sesame Street page doesn't have any posts regarding Romney's comments).

The more I see the actual ad, the more I think it was supposed to be an inhouse joke that they put on the web, and then someone thought it was a good idea to use as a real ad to paint Romney as a cold uncaring industrialist that only cares about his rich buddies he can take advantage of/can take advantage of him. That was how they were winning back when Romney was spouting Freudian slips and stories where everyone gets fired.

I really have no idea how the funding of PBS affects Sesame Street. Am I missing something?

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As near as I can tell, it's probably the money that PBS uses to buy the episodes. I don't know if the money goes directly to Sesame Workshop before it hits PBS, but it costs a lot to air a TV show. That's how regular television works. The show is funded by advertisements, and when the ratings go down, ad revenue goes down, and the network threatens whoever's producing the show to lower the budget or screw with the show to get the ratings back. What Sesame Street gets from Uncle Sam, regardless if it's handed down from PBS, is a drop in the bucket of a drop in the bucket. In perspective, the over 400 million that goes to PBS is paltry compared to the national budget, but it's quite welcome to PBS.

And I swear they spend the bulk of it on BBC shows. Not even the good ones (except Sherlock, which is a Frogsend. Why the heck don't they repeat that for pledge month?).